Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal Visits Tesla’s California Manufacturing Facility

Commerce and Industry minister Piyush Goyal visited the manufacturing facility of US-based electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla, in Fremont, California. During his visit, he engaged with engineers and finance professionals but missed meeting Tesla boss Elon Musk in person, who was unable to be at the plant due to health reasons. Goyal stressed he is proud to see the growing importance of auto component suppliers from India in the Tesla EV supply chain.

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Goyal shared pictures on the social networking platform X and said, “Visited Tesla's state-of-the-art manufacturing facility at Fremont, California. Extremely delighted to see talented Indian engineers and finance professionals working in senior positions and contributing to Tesla's remarkable journey to transform mobility. Also proud to see the growing importance of auto component suppliers from India in the Tesla EV supply chain. It is on its way to double its components imports from India. Missed Elon Musk's magnetic presence, and I wish him a speedy recovery”.

Over the last few years, a number of Tesla cars have been spotted on test in India.

In January 2021, Tesla established its Indian entity, and throughout the year, both the Tesla Model 3 and Model Y were seen testing. However, owing to the extremely high import duty on cars in India, Elon Musk laid down the gauntlet in front of the Indian government. He said that the launch of the electric car maker Tesla in India will only happen after it resolves its issues with the government. Musk's Tesla has been lobbying the government for a reduction in import duty. 

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The visit assumes significance as there are reports that India is considering giving customs duty concessions to Tesla for setting up a plant in the country. The Indian government is said to be working on an electric vehicle policy that would allow car manufacturers to import battery-powered vehicles on concessional duty rates. However, these international companies need to commit to eventually manufacturing components or their vehicles in India.